BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Server uptime and hardware failure guide
-
Article
How much server uptime is enough?
IT departments should work with business leaders to decide how much uptime is enough, rather than always push for more hardware to improve server uptime. Read Now
-
Article
Economy to require 100% server uptime by 2022
Due to the increasing demand of the digital economy, data center uptime will surpass electrical infrastructure in importance by 2022. Read Now
-
Article
No single factor key to uptime
In a modern data center, availability relies on comprehensive server uptime awareness, and can't be pinned just to automation, application modularity or redundancy. Read Now
-
Article
Server features can prevent failures
New server processor attributes quickly fix errors and increase reliability, avoiding system failures and workload outages. Read Now
Editor's note
Server uptime and reliability are crucial to running a great data center. IT organizations spend time and money implementing high availability (HA) virtualization and adequate server operations and security. Invest in fault tolerance and designed-to-fail architectures so that IT workloads continue operating even when the worst happens.
This guide explores how the different ways IT organizations build uptime into their servers and data centers, from facility to hardware to HA virtualization and designed-to-fail systems.
1Server uptime building blocks
Sure, uptime is important. But you can't help build it into your data center if you keep getting tripped up. Check out these eight terms to help you better grasp server uptime.
-
Definition
high availability (HA)
In information technology, high availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational for a desirably long length of time. Read Now
-
Definition
fault-tolerant
Systems with integrated fault tolerance are designed to withstand multiple hardware failures to ensure continuous availability. Read Now
-
Definition
redundant
Redundancy can have several meanings, but commonly refers to spare hardware that is kept online or to duplicate data. Read Now
-
Definition
N+1 UPS
N+1, also called parallel redundancy, is a safeguard to ensure that an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)system is always available. Read Now
-
Definition
uptime and downtime
Uptime is a computer industry term for the time during which a computer is operational. Read Now
-
Definition
mission-critical computing
A mission-critical application is a software program or service that must function for the success of a business or segment of a business. Read Now
-
Definition
database mirroring
Database mirroring is the maintenance of redundant copies of a database to ensure continuous data availability and minimize or avoid downtime that might otherwise result from data corruption or loss, or when the operation of a network is partially compromised. Read Now
-
Definition
single point of failure (SPOF)
A single point of failure (SPOF) is a potential risk posed by a flaw in the design, implementation or configuration of a circuit or system in which one fault or malfunction causes an entire system to stop operating. Read Now
2Keep hardware failure to a minimum
Sooner or later, server hardware will fail, so don't get caught unprepared. From battery management to the right continuity plan, these tips will help you plan for the worst.
-
Article
If you can't avoid hardware failure, plan for it
It's impossible to prevent every hardware failure, but today's disaster planning revolves around doing your best to avoid downtime. Read Now
-
Article
Data center failure is sometimes the best option
How your IT team approaches and learns from data center failures shows how well it functions as a whole. Read Now
-
Article
Learn from data center outages
Improve data center resiliency by learning from other businesses IT mistakes. Read Now
-
Article
An affordable IT service continuity plan
Move away from a simple backup and restore mentality toward IT service continuity to save money in the long term. Read Now
-
Article
Virtualize critical infrastructure services without failure
You have several options for virtualizing critical IT infrastructure services. Read Now
-
Article
Data center building options from traditional to containers
See how these companies took different approaches in the footprint, location and feel of the space when building a data center. Read Now
-
Article
Outsourcing battery monitoring and maintenance
Use backup battery monitoring to take power monitoring off to-do lists, extend the life of batteries and prevent outages. Read Now
3Keeping up with the virtualizations
Resilient virtual machines increase uptime for IT workloads and ease concerns about individual server uptime. Be sure your virtualization scheme is up to snuff with these insights on high availability and fault tolerance.
-
Article
Should I test server high availability?
Two experts differ on the frequency with which IT organizations should test high-availability server clusters, since they can introduce downtime. Read Now
-
Article
DR still necessary with high availability
Learn why a solid DR strategy is still necessary even though hypervisor vendors champion the benefits of HA. Read Now
-
Article
How to choose the right replication technology
Which data replication technology is right for your organization in the event of hardware failure? Read Now
-
Article
Improving virtual machine resilience
IT organizations should choose VM high availability implementation wisely so they don't over spend. Read Now
-
Article
How do you protect critical VMs from hardware failure?
Organizations can prevent a single server fault from disrupting mission-critical applications by creating a failover plan distributing workloads across multiple physical servers. Read Now
-
Article
Workloads to keep on physical hardware
There are several factors to consider when choosing whether or not to virtualize, including the importance of the workload and any dependencies. Read Now